M Ramachandran: Urban Development

For someone who was responsible for facilitating a $1,000 million loan from the ADB for Uttarakhand’s energy, roads and urban sectors, Dr M Ramachandran is a soft-spoken man with a big vision. A passionate believer in urbanisation as a key to greater growth, Dr Ramachandran is the man behind the JNNURM programme that seeks to change the way we live. A strong proponent of the delegation of powers from the state level to urban local bodies, he has set new horizons of civic services delivery. He is also a firm believer in the service level-benchmarking framework as one of the fundamental building blocks of the soft infrastructure that cities need to build. According to him, benchmarking will improve services delivery, strengthen accountability, bring in greater transparency, help in optimal resource allocation and prioritising of activities, and facilitate public-private-partnership.